Lost in Time
by alygator86
Summary: I took the Ellis storyline from Wishin’ and Hopin’ and moved it 3 years in the future MerDer kid.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's. If I did I would give better spoilers.

Rating: K+

Summary: I took the Ellis storyline from Wishin' and Hopin' and moved it 3 years in the future.

AN: For some reason word gave me random line breaks and I apologize if they show up on Enjoy!

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Meredith and Derek were awoken by the small form of their daughter running in and jumping on the bed. Derek took out his wax ear plugs in time to hear Meredith groggily ask, "What time is it?"

He pulled their daughter down to lay between them and tickled her. "It's a little before five."

Meredith groaned and Derek leaned over to kiss her, purposefully lightly squishing the little girl in the process.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed sounding as exasperated as a three year old can.

"Anna banana!" he mimicked her.

Anna giggled then kissed Meredith on the cheek, "Morning mommy!"

Meredith smiled and kissed her forehead, "Good morning, Anna. Go potty and mommy and daddy will come and make you breakfast, ok?"

"Ok!" She scrambled off the bed and skipped out of the room.

Derek slid closer and started kissing Meredith's cheek when her phone rang.

"Who could that be?" he asked.

"I don't know." She kissed him softly before sitting up and answering. "Hello?"

"Dr. Grey, I'm sorry to be calling so early but we need you to come down here. It's your mother."

"Is everything alright? Is she ok?" Meredith asked.

"She's fine. But she woke up completely lucid."

"I'll be right there," Meredith replied and hung up then began getting dressed.

"What's going on?" Derek asked he had started getting dressed, buttoning up his shirt.

Meredith looked at him. "My mother woke up completely lucid. They want me to go down there."

He pulled a sweater over his shirt. "Do you want us to come?"  
"No, I'll be fine," she told him, getting dressed, putting on jeans and a black long sleeved shirt then socks and shoes.

"You'll be fine," he smiled and they started downstairs, "I'll go get Anna breakfast and drop her off at the hospital day care. I'll see you in a little while."

"Ok," she grabbed her bag and kissed him quickly.

He handed her her keys, "I love you."

"I love you, too."

---

Meredith got to the home and was met by the nurse. Outside of Ellis's room, the nurse began to explain.

"She woke up this morning completely aware. She's her old self. It happens. Medically we don't know why," the nurse told her

Meredith nodded, "So she remembers?"

"Everything except the last 8 years and she doesn't realize she has Alzheimer's. We thought she should hear it from you."

"So she'll know me? I'm gonna walk in there and she's gonna know who I am?" asked Meredith.

The nurse smiled slightly. "She's been asking for you."

Meredith took a deep breath, opened the door and went in.

"Hi, mom," she greeted, sitting on the side of the bed.

"Meredith what is going on? When did you get back from Europe?" Ellis asked, still pacing

"I went to Europe for 2 months. But that was…"

Ellis cut her off, "I've been sitting here thinking about the fight we had. The things I – I said," she sat on the end of the bed, "I said some terrible things."

"Its fine," Meredith assured her.

"No, it's not. After you left I was upset. Did I have a break down? I must have had a nervous breakdown I'm in a…is this a hospital?" she asked looking around the room. With a nervous little smile she continued, "Because I can't remember anything for the last two months, Meredith. The last thing I remember is the fight we had, and listen, if you don't want to go to medical school, that's fine. It's your life. Just take me home."

"I went to medical school," Meredith told her, watching her mother once again pace and wring her hands.

"I want to go home Meredith. I need to go home."

Meredith took another breath, "You are home. I went to Europe eight years ago. You got sick. You have Alzheimer's. This is your home. You live here now."

Tears formed in Ellis's eyes and she stopped wringing her hands and squeezed them together, "No!"

"Mom," Meredith tried to calm her.

"Noo!" She moved to the other side of the room, freaking out about what she was just told. Her heart started to beat faster and faster and then she was falling. There was pain in her wrist, the room was going black and she heard Meredith yell for someone to call 911.

---

The ambulance doors opened when they reached Seattle Grace and they were met by Burke and Callie. The paramedics pulled the stretcher out of the

"She has substernal chest pain and –" Meredith started, Burke taking her hand to help her out of the ambulance.

Ellis finished "Syncophie. My pulse was in the 200s but the rate has resolved on its own."

Burke looked to Meredith perplexed, "She woke up today completely lucid. She's her old self again."

"How did you break your wrist, Dr. Grey?" Callie asked.

"During the episode with my heart, I fell," Ellis answered, "Who are you?"

"I'm Dr. Torres, the ortho resident."

"I want to do some x rays then we'll just put you in a cast," Callie told her.

Ellis didn't answer but asked, "Do you know Richard Webber? Is he still a doctor here?"

"Dr. Webber is the chief, mom," Meredith told her.

"And the chief is coming this way," Burke told them, unbuckling Ellis from the paramedic's stretcher and moving her to a wheelchair.

"Is she alright?" he asked Meredith.

"She's…" Meredith trailed off.

"Richard Webber," the chief looked down at Ellis, "My god, you've aged."

"Ellis."

"I was having arrhythmias. They want to do tests and…I hear that you are the chief of surgery now. That's wonderful," Ellis said.

He smiled slightly, "Yes but I'm stepping down soon."

"Stepping down? I can only assume that was Adele's idea," she said matter-of-factly since she didn't know Webber and Adele were divorced. Callie was ready to take them to x-ray, "Meredith?"

"I'll be right there, mom," she replied then turned to the chief as her mother was wheeled towards the elevator, "She woke up today with her memory back. They say it's temporary…"

"My god," he was shocked, "obviously don't worry about work today, this time…it's a gift."

"Yeah…a gift," she replied not so sure about that.

---

They got Ellis to her room after the tests and x-rays and when Callie came in to put on the cast – light blue – Meredith excused herself saying she had to do something. What she was doing was watching her daughter play with the other kids in day care.

---

Cristina went to Ellis's room with the echo machine cart.

"Hi, Dr. Grey, I'm Dr. Cristina Yang. Dr. Burke wants me to do an echo."

Ellis nodded and Cristina set up the cart, put some gel on Ellis's chest and began the echo. Not looking at Ellis. After a few moments of silence Ellis spoke.

"You and Meredith are good friends. I can tell, because you're afraid to look at me. As if I'll ask you some personal question about her and you'll accidentally slip," she studied Cristina. "But you don't do anything accidentally, do you?" Cristina finished the echo and began to wipe off the gel, "Has Meredith chosen a specialty?"

Cristina stopped for a moment, "That's a personal question."

"For surgeons it's the most personal question you can ask. It tells you who they are."

"My mother would want to know if I had a boyfriend," she chuckled.

"Your mother sounds like a frivolous woman," Ellis stated, putting her arm on the pillow next to her head.

Suddenly, Cristina became a little unsure. She was talking to _the_ Ellis Grey. She asked, "I chose cardio thoracics. What does that say about me?"

"Heart surgeons are the know-it-alls. They are the most ambitious, the most driven. They want everything and they want it _now_. And they don't want anything getting in their way," she got to business, "Meredith says I'm part of an Alzheimer's research study. I want a neuro consult with the doctor who put me in the trial."

"I will set that up for you," she told Ellis and headed out to find Meredith and warn her about the consult.

She found Meredith outside the day care with Anna.

"Hey! Mer! I've been looking for you. Burke has me on your mom. Are you ok?"

Anna held her arms out for Cristina to take her, "Hey Monkey."

"I'm avoiding her. I'm avoiding the gift," Meredith said, handing Anna over to Aunt Cristina.

"Well, uh, your gift wants to meet Derek."

Meredith began to panic, "What? What did you say?"

"Oh no, no not Derek your husband. Dr. Shepherd the neurosurgeon. But she's gonna know he's your husband anyway. She has waves," she grinned, "I'm kinda in love with her."

"She has that effect on people who aren't her daughter," Meredith replied.

Izzie was walking down the hall and she stopped to talk to them saying hi to Anna first, "Hey I heard about your mother. That's unbelievable."

"Yeah, it's a gift," she smiled a fake smile.

"She's avoiding her," Cristina let out.

Izzie scolded her, "She's your mother and she's really here.

This is your chance! You should talk to her."

Meredith was unsure, "She has a very long history of being disappointed in me."

"You're a doctor now. Parental disappointment ends with a medical degree," Izzie said.

Cristina nodded in agreement. Izzie's pager went off.

"Gotta go. Good luck," she said before running off to see what the problem was.

"Well if I'm going to talk to her, you are going to watch Anna because I can't deal with my mother wanting to know about me _and_ Anna and Derek," Meredith decided.

"Sure. Monkey can come with me to get labs and then we'll meet you for lunch," Cristina said. "I'll try and find Derek to let him know, too."

"Thanks, Cristina. See you later," She started down the hall, "Be good for Aunt Cristina, Anna."

Meredith went to her mother's room to see her standing by the window.

"Hi mom," she greeted, sitting in the chair, one leg drawn up to her chest, her left hand inadvertently hiding.

"Meredith," she moved over to the rolling tray table. "So…tell me about your life. I really do want to know you, Meredith."

"Well…" Meredith trailed off, nervous, almost afraid to tell her mother about Derek and Anna. "I have someone."

"Does he understand the demands of your job? Because some men will say they will, but –"

"He's a doctor, too, so he gets it. We're happy."

"Good," he replied, not commenting, yet, on Meredith being happy. "What's your specialty? Cristina is in cardio."

"I actually just chose neuro last week. It took me a while, I know, but I just wanted to see if it was what I really wanted to do."

"Why are you so unfocused? Why did it take you so long to pick a specialty?" She paused then answered her own question, "It's because you have a boyfriend. I knew it. You're happy now? The Meredith I knew was a force of nature, passionate, focused. A fighter. What happened to you? You've gone soft! Talking about a boyfriend, being happy? Saying that you've just _recently_ chosen a specialty? Listen to me! Meredith! Anyone can fall in love and be blindly happy but not everyone can pick up a scalpel and save a life. I raised you to be an extraordinary human being, and imagine my disappointment when I wake up after eight years and discover that you're no more than ordinary. What happened to you?"

She stood up, upset and angry. "I don't have a boyfriend, mom, I have a husband!" With that she got up and left the room, heading to the cafeteria.

She got to the courtyard and saw Cristina with Derek and Anna. She sat next to Derek not as angry since she was with her favorite people. Derek kissed her cheek. "Hey, I was just leaving to have that consult with your mother."

"She's charming. She's fabulous and suddenly she's the enemy," Meredith told him, taking his unfinished sandwich.

"I'm meeting the enemy?" he asked, amused.

"Just don't get personal," she told him after swallowing a bite.

"You're being ridiculous."

"You're being 'idiculous, mommy," Anna added but Cristina told her not to interrupt.

"I'm not being ridiculous," she insisted.

He gave her a McDreamy look, "It's gonna be fine," he reassured her.

"Just be careful," Meredith told him.

"She has waves," Cristina added.

He kissed Mer's head then Anna's. "I'll be back. Love you."

"Love you, too," Cristina replied teasing and she and Meredith laughed. "So tell me what happened with your mother."

---

About twenty minutes later Derek came back. Cristina had gotten paged and Anna was still eating. Cristina told Meredith that her mother needed surgery tomorrow. Meredith knew even though her mother's heart problem could have been resolved by medication, Alztimers patients, her mother especially, weren't always med compliant, so she needed the surgery and Cristina – and Burke - agreed.

"So how was my mother?" she asked, knowing it was horrible.

"Apparently you're unfocused because I'm an attending. And I'm threatened by a woman who is my equal and I want you to admire me," he told her, "Does she know how bossy you are?"

Meredith gave a small laugh. "And that is why I went to Europe. Because everything I do is a disappointment to her."

"When did you go to Europe?"

"Before med school because she wanted me to go and I was still being rebellious Meredith and I didn't want to go. She was driving me crazy."

"You crazy mommy?" Anna asked, eating her French fries.

"Not anymore, baby," she replied, then turned the Derek, "Do you think you could take her for a little while? I just need to think."

"Yeah I don't have any surgeries scheduled for today," he replied.

"Thanks."

---

A few hours later Meredith went back into Ellis's room because Cristina paged her saying her mother was refusing treatment for the runs of tachycardia.

"I'm not sure refusing treatment is what you want to do," Meredith told her.

"Apparently what I want doesn't matter. It isn't even legally binding. So it's really about what you want, Meredith, you're in charge," Ellis replied, frustrated that Meredith had power of attorney.

"Do you think I like making these decisions for you? Do you think its fun to get calls from the nursing home asking whether if I was planning on giving the nurse, who changes you every morning, a Christmas tip? But I do it because you have managed to alienate every body else in your life. And I am the only one," she told her mother, tears gathering in her eyes, "So I have to step up and do it. You wanna know why I'm so unfocused? So ordinary? You wanna know what happened to me? You. You happened to me. You and – "

Ellis cut her off, "Then let me refuse the heart surgery."

"No!"

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Because killing my mother is not going to be another thing that happens to me!"

The door was open and Izzie poked her head in tentatively, "Mer?"

"What?" Meredith snapped then took a breath and looked apologetically at her friend, "I'm sorry, Iz."

"It's alright," she smiled.

Anna ran in and over to Meredith, "Mommy! Daddy work."

Meredith picked her up and Izzie explained, "Sorry. Derek got paged for an emergency surgery so he had Cristina watch her, but Burke needed Cristina for something so I was watching her, but Bailey needs me. I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Izzie, really. Thanks."

"Bye, Mer. Bye, Anna Banana."

"Bye, Aunt Izzie," Anna waved as Izzie left.

Meredith turned back to Ellis after Izzie left, "And I have her."

"Mommy sad?" Anna noticed her mother was upset.

"A little bit. Mommy's ok. Did you have fun with Aunt Cristina?"

She nodded, "We gotted ice cream." Then made an oops face.

"Aunt Cristina said not to tell, didn't she?"

Anna giggled, "Mommy we go zoo 'morrow?"

"Yes, we're going to the zoo tomorrow."

Anna grinned then looked to Ellis then back to Meredith. "Does Grandma have a owwie?"

"Yeah, Banana, she does."

"Is a member day?"

"Yeah it is. Tell her your name."

Anna looked back to Ellis "Anna Shepherd"

"How old are you?" Meredith prompted.

Anna held up 3 fingers looking at Meredith to make sure it was right. "Fwee."

Meredith couldn't help but smile, "And what do mommy and daddy do?"

"Surgeon brains." Then to Ellis "Anna go to day bear but mommy isn't surgeoning so Anna's not there! Not 'morrow neither. We go zoo"

"She means she usually goes to day care but I got today off so she's been having fun with everyone," Meredith translated, "And in case you didn't catch it she's excited about the zoo.

Ellis was completely shocked at all of this.

"Tell Grandma what your favorite animal is," Meredith told her.

"Monkey!" Anna exclaimed, "Aunt Cristina calls Anna 'monkey'."

"You got pregnant, is that why you married him?" accused Ellis.

"No, mom. I got pregnant after we got married. And I may seem unfocused to you, but what I'm doing is having both _and_ I'm taking care of you. And I'm trying. I have Derek –"

"Daddy!" Anna exclaimed at hearing her father's name.

Meredith gave Anna a slightly stern look, "Anna, what did mommy and daddy say about talking when we're talking?"

Anna's eyes got wide and she pressed her lips together. Meredith smiled then looked back to her mother.

"I have Derek and my friends. He and I are never on call over night together, thanks to the chief and my resident, and even if we both end up in late surgeries, Izzie or Cristina and Burke, or George and Callie, or Alex, or even Addison, help out. Do you know who Addison is, Mom? Addison is Derek's ex wife. Addison hated me, but I'm not like you. We're friends now and she helps us. They all help us. That's what you get when you don't push everyone away. When you ask for help with having both. You get help." She looked at Anna "Let's go watch Daddy ok?"

"Ok!" She starts walking out of the room. Anna looked over Meredith's shoulder to Ellis, "Bye grandma. We go watch daddy surgeon brains."

They went to the gallery and Anna was excited about watching Derek surgeon. Meredith saw Addison in there doing paperwork and sat next to her.

"Aunt Addie!" Anna exclaimed.

Addison smiled, "Hey Anna. What are you doing?"

"Watching Daddy surgeon. What you doing?"

"I'm doing my work," she told Anna then asked Meredith: "How's your mom?"

"Oh, she's just fine. Disappointed in me as usual."

"Do you think maybe she's jealous?" Addison asked, taking off her glasses.

"What do you mean?" questioned Meredith

"Well you're happy. You're a surgeon and you have a family and you're happy. You have both and you're doing what she could never do. Maybe she's not able right now to tell you she's proud of you."

Meredith nodded realizing Addison was right then scrunched up her nose a little, "Could we talk about something else? I'm tired of my mother and that's all everyone wants to talk about."

"Grandma has a owwie, Aunt Addie."

"I know sweetie," replied Addison, and then gracefully changed the subject, "I heard you went to day care this morning."

"Yeah!" Anna always loved to talk about day care.

---

"I heard you were having surgery tomorrow," Richard said coming into the room.

Ellis looked at him, "Do you…? Do I know who Meredith is? Do I at least recognize Meredith?"

"You know she's someone important, someone who loves you," the chief said.

"You'll look out for her? You'll make sure Dr. Shepherd is good to her?" Because she's got so much more to learn and I won't be able to teach her.

"I'll look out for her," he assured her, "And Derek is good for her."

"I wish I could go back. I'd do everything so differently," she told him, "I'd fight harder for you. I think if….if I'd fought harder for you maybe…

Richard moved across the room and sat in the chair next to her and she shifted closer to him, "We would have had a wonderful life together, Ellis."

"You think so?" she asked hopefully.

"I do," he nodded, "We would have done our fellowship here. And then you would have fought me for chief and probably won," they chuckled, "And I wouldn't have minded because we'd have the kids at home."

"We'd have kids?"

He nodded, "Meredith would need a brother and sister. Kids need family.

"We would have been a family."

"Probably bought that big house on Parker – the one with the barn...yeah, that's a good place for a family," he told her.

"And I would have been happy just like Meredith is happy and that would have changed everything," a few tears fell from her eyes and she sniffed, "Maybe…I would be fine if we could grow old together. And life would be so perfectly ordinary," she finished, more tears falling. She took his hand, "My life is so unfinished. It's unfinished and I'm not finished."

He pulled her into his chest and she wrapped her arms around him, "No. No, Ellis. Don't think that…just close your eyes and think of the family. Of the house."

"And you there every night to come home to," she added.

"And me there. I'm there," he agreed.

---

By the time Derek finished his surgery Anna was asleep. Meredith carried her down and waited outside the scrub room for Derek. He came out and smiled at her.

"Hey," he whispered, "Why didn't you go home?"

"My car is still at the nursing home and," she smiled and had somewhat of a coy expression, "I wanted to be near you."

"Not going well?" he asked, concern written on his face.

"No, but I'm going to see her before we leave. Could you take the sleeping beauty?"

"Sure. I'll get changed and we'll meet you in the lobby," he told her as she gently shifted Anna to him.

"Ok."

Meredith went in the direction of her mother's room and Derek headed to the locker room where he was faced with the problem of changing while holding a sleeping three year old. Mark came into the locker room just a couple minutes later.

"What are you doing?" Mark asked, just seeing Derek standing there.

"Trying to figure out how to get changed. But I now have an answer. I need you to hold her."

"Is she sleeping?" he asked.

"Yes," Derek asked, passing Anna over to Mark. They weren't quite best friends again but they were friends.

"I didn't know the monkey did that."

Derek started getting changed, "What? Sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Sometimes I'm not sure she does either."

"How is Meredith doing?" Mark asked.

"She's doing pretty well. As well as can be expected, I suppose," Derek replied, "But it's really stressful for her. It's really hard having a parent as infamous as Ellis Grey and apparently it's hard not be a disappointment no matter what you do. But I got to see where Mer go her bossiness from."

Mark chuckled softly. Derek finished changing and closed his locker.

"Here, take your kid. She's getting heavy," Mark said and shifted Anna back to Derek, "Man, it's amazing she's still sleeping."

"It is. Thanks, Mark," Derek picked up his briefcase and left the locker room.

Meredith was already in the lobby when he got there and she looked a little upset.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah. She's not lucid anymore," she told him.

He hugged her with one arm, "I'm sorry, Mer."

"It's ok," she replied, "Because I have hope. One day she'll get to know me and you and Anna. She'll see that I'm not at all ordinary."

"It's good to have hope," Derek smiled.

"It is," she agreed.

"And you are in no way ordinary," he brushed some hair away from her face.

She smiled, "Let's go home."

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I'm thinking of writing a sequel – good idea? Bad idea?

Read, review, repeat


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own some jager… Thursday should be everyday

Thank you everyone who reviewed on the last chapter.

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Derek was doing something he never thought he'd be doing. Alone anyway. He drove the familiar route, met the nurse and the two of them made their way to the room discussing the situation. The nurse let him into the room where he was met by a very anxious woman.

"What are you doing here, Dr. Shepherd?" she asked, "Where is Meredith?"

"Call me Derek, please. Meredith is sick, Dr. Grey. She wanted me to come see you," he replied calmly, as he would when Meredith was freaking out.

Ellis looked concerned, "She's sick? Is she ok?"

"She'll be fine. She and the kids just have the flu and they're all in bed today."

She accepted this but had more questions. She sat on her bed. "What happened? The last thing I remember is talking with Richard Webber and I was going to have surgery. I'd had another fight with Meredith. How long has it been?"

"It's been five years. Your surgery went very well, as you can tell. There were no complications," Derek told her, taking a seat in a nearby chair.

"Five years?"

"Yes. There was a new medication developed recently for Alztimers patients to increase the number of lucid days," he explained.

"And you put me in the trial so I received it, am I right?"

"You are. I'm not sure about the statistics from the other patients but this is remarkable."

"It could just be another good day like before," Ellis pointed out.

"It could," he agreed, nodding slightly, "We'll just have to wait and see."

Ellis sighed slightly. "Tell me about Meredith. Has she finished her residency?"

"She is actually halfway done with her neuro fellowship," Derek told Ellis, his pride evident as it always was.

"Are you teaching her?" She asked, somewhat accusingly.

"I and Dr. Bradford teach her," he told her, "Meredith is an exceptional surgeon."

"Good. Tell me what has changed. You have another child."

He nodded, "We do. Anna is 8 now and Christopher is 4," From his wallet he produced pictures of the kids. He never thought he'd be that dad – the one who always had pictures of his kids. Anna looked more like Meredith with long dark hair and Christopher looked more like Derek but light hair like Meredith's. Both kids had Derek's blue eyes.

Ellis just looked at the pictures, not voicing her thoughts on how beautiful the children were. She handed back the pictures, "Christopher. Did you name him after Meredith's friend?"

He put them back in his wallet, "Cristina? We did actually. Cristina was with Mer when she went into labor early and she got her to the hospital. She was there for the births of Anna and Christopher and Meredith was with Cristina for the birth of her daughter."

"Cristina has a daughter?" Ellis asked.

"You seemed surprised by that."

"She's a cardiothoracic surgeon, she doesn't seem like the type to have children," she told him.

Derek chuckled. "Mer told me that after Cristina found out she was pregnant she said that if Meredith could do the family thing she could too."

"That sounds like something Cristina might say," Ellis replied, "I remember Richard Webber said he was stepping down as chief. I assume since it's been five years he did that?"

"He did," Derek nodded, "About four years ago. Dr. Miranda Bailey is chief now. She was Meredith's resident. "

"Stepping down had to have been Adele's idea. She never liked him being at the hospital all the time."

"I'm not sure if it was her idea but they got divorced before he stepped down."

She shook her head, "He should have divorced her a long time ago."

"Maybe he wasn't able to. Even if he wasn't happy with her he had to make sure he was doing the right thing. Staying with her I mean – even if he was in love with someone else. Just giving up isn't who he is."

Ellis looked at him, thinking about his words. "The same thing happened with you and Meredith, didn't it? The second time we fought yester – when we was last lucid – she said that her friends helped. Even Addison, you're ex wife, who initially hated her. You cheated on Addison."

Derek blinked, taken aback for a moment. Ellis was giving him this look. A look he's never seen from Meredith and hope he never does. The look told him to tell her everything or she would kill him. It was actually close to a look Cristina gave him a few times, "Addison cheated on me. But essentially you're right. Meredith and I have a similar relationship to you and Richard. Addison came to Seattle and Meredith and I broke up. It was complicated and messy but I felt like I had to try again with Addison in order for things to work with Meredith. It was hard for both of us but I think it made us stronger," He looked into Ellis's eyes, "I love Meredith, Dr. Grey. And I would do anything for her."

Ellis was about to reply when Derek's cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID seeing it was Meredith.

"Excuse me," He went to the other side of the room and answered, "Hey Mer, how are you?"

"Crappy. How is spending time with my mother?" Meredith asked, her voice rough – she sounded sick.

"Oh its wonderful," he smiled, "We're just talking about how similar you and I are to your mother and Richard. What are you doing?"

Meredith groaned at the discussion topic. "I woke up, checked on the kids and got them what they needed, and I need more strawberry ice cream."

"Strawberry ice cream?" he asked, thinking how cute and absolutely pitiful she could sound when she was sick and wanted him to do something.

"I'm eating the last little bit we have then going back to sleep. Could you pick me up more on your way home?"

Ellis listened to Derek's end of the conversation and thinking about how happy she was when she was with Richard. It wasn't for long but they were happy. Derek gets a look on his face when he talks about Meredith – like she means the world to him; like she's the best thing ever. She truly believed Meredith was happy.

"I know I'm your knight in shining whatever," he chuckled.

"Can I say hi to my mother before I crash again?" she asked, getting back into bed.

"Sure," Derek replied. He walked back over to Ellis and held out his phone, "She wants to talk to you."

Ellis took the phone, "Meredith?"

"Hi mom."

"You sound horrible," she commented.

Meredith laughed a little, "I feel horrible. Christopher brought home a bug."

"Are you in bed? Drinking plenty of water?" Ellis asked.

"Yes mom. We're all in bed. Anna and Christopher are asleep and I gave them some children's Tylenol to lower their fevers. Don't worry mom. I'm a doctor. Derek's a doctor. We have it covered."

"I'm glad you're happy, Meredith. I know I said some things the last time we spoke and I know that was five years ago for you but I'm glad Derek makes you happy," Ellis told her.

"Thanks, mom," Meredith replied sleepily, "I really want to talk to you more but I'm about to fall asleep."

"No, you need to rest," she insisted, "I will talk to you later."

"Ok. Remind Derek about the strawberry ice cream."

"I will. Bye."

"Goodbye."

Ellis handed the phone back to Derek and he put it back in his pocket. "Remember the strawberry ice cream."

"I can't forget the ice cream," he smiled, "Meredith loves strawberry ice cream when she's sick. Anna likes cherry popsicles and Christopher just likes to sleep."

"Those are good things to know," she told him.

---

Derek got home that evening with the strawberry ice cream and saw Meredith and Anna watching a movie. They were both in PJs with their hair tied back.

"Hi daddy," Anna smiled, going over and giving him a hug

"Hi sweetie," he replied, hugging her back and kissing the top of her head, "How do you feel?"

Anna smiled, "Lot's better. Christopher went to bed."

"That's good. Can you please put the ice cream in the freezer so I can talk to mommy?" Derek asked.

"Ok," she took the bag and headed for the kitchen.

Derek sat next to Meredith and lightly kissed her forehead, "How are you feeling?"

"Better. I'm pretty sure another day home and I can get back to work," she put her head on his shoulder.

"That sounds good. You don't feel as warm, when was the last time you took something?"

"Earlier today. I'm sorry you had to spend the day with my mother."

"It wasn't too bad. She only yelled a couple times. We talked a lot and I'm pretty sure she doesn't hate me anymore."

Meredith laughed then looked up at Derek, "I hate that I'm sick. With this medication she'll have more days like this right? I'll be able to talk to her like you did?"

Derek nodded even though he wasn't 100 percent sure himself, "Yeah. She'll get to know you like we all know you."

"Good," she replied. Even if it wasn't a certain thing she had hope.

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Part three to come soon.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Here's part three finally! It takes place one year after part 2 and it's kinda like 'a day in the life of' from Ellis's POV but in third person if they makes sense. Just read lol. Enjoy!**

**The Kids.**

**MerDer: Anna (9), Christopher (5); Bang: Jacklyn (8); CaGe: Megan (3); Addisex; Andrew (6), Amanda (3); Mazzie: Nicolas (7) **

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Over the past year Ellis had many, many lucid days and she finally got to know Meredith and Derek as well as her grandchildren, Anna and Christopher. Meredith finished her fellowship and became a neuro attending like Derek.

Ellis was, for today, at Seattle Grace for tests to see how the new Alzheimer's medication was working and for new MRI's and CT's. She got a physical exam done by one of Meredith's previous intern's interns. She was told it was going to be a little slow getting the tests today because they were updating the computers and there were some problems. Both Meredith and Derek had been in to see her along with Cristina who said hi.

If she had everything right then Cristina and Dr. Burke had a daughter, Jacklyn who is best friends with Anna – the oldest of all the children at 9 – and just a year younger than her. Izzie, one of Meredith's old roommates, married Mark Sloan who is the head of plastics and they have son named Nicholas, 7 years old, who is two years older than Christopher but they play together. George, another of Meredith's roommates married the ortho attending, Callie, and they have a three-year-old daughter Megan. Megan O'Malley and Nicholas Sloan are also friends with Alex Karev and Addison Montgomery Karev's children Andrew, who is 7, and Amanda, also 3. That was a lot to remember.

All was quiet and beginning to get boring when her granddaughter, Anna, came in with another girl.

"Anna, shouldn't you been in school?" Ellis asked, surprised to see the girl.

"They let us out early because it was getting icy and there's a storm coming. Aunt Callie picked everyone up," Anna told her.

"Everyone?"

"Yeah. Well Amanda and Megan were already here because they're in day care all day but Aunt Callie borrowed Aunt Izzie's minivan and picked us up from school. We usually all come here after school anyway to do homework. Christopher and Andrew go to day care though, too."

"Because they're little," the other girl added.

Ellis smiled a little, "Anna, who is your friend?"

"This is my best friend Jackie," Anna told her grandma.

"Jacklyn Burke," Jackie added.

Ellis nodded, "I've met your mother. You look very much like her."

"Yeah! Monkey says I look like my mom and Monkey looks like her mom!" Jackie replied, excitedly.

"Who is Monkey?" Ellis asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Me!" Anna replied, "Aunt Cristina and Uncle Mark called me Monkey when I was little and they still do. Jackie calls me Monkey and I call her Frog."

"Because I like to jump rope a lot," Jackie explained.

"Its good exercise," said Ellis.

Jackie nodded, "That's what my daddy says."

Anna gasped, "Grandma! Grandpa Richard got me a big, huge stuffed monkey for my birthday. It's purple and it's in my room."

Ellis was happy that Richard was a part of her daughter and grandchildren's lives, "That's very nice of him."

Meredith came into the room, wearing the navy colored scrubs she started wearing when she became an attending.

"There you two are," she said, putting her arms around the two of them," Have you done your homework yet?

"No, mommy," Anna said.

"No, Aunt Mer," Jackie replied at the same time.

"Well I have a surgery in a couple hours and if you guys finish your homework I'll let you watch from the gallery."

"Ok!" the girls replied in unison.

"Nicolas is already in Aunt Addison's office, why don't you both go work with him and I'll come get you before I scrub in?" Meredith suggested in the tone that told them to do it.

The girls said goodbye to Ellis and went to do their homework. She watched the girls go then smiled to her mother, taking a breath.

"We parent each other's children since we rely on each other for so much," Meredith explained, "Derek should be here soon to talk to you more about the trial."

Ellis nodded her understanding then asked something she had been thinking about for a while. "So what are you called here?"

"Mostly I'm Dr. Shepherd. Most of the doctors clarify with 'Grey-Shepherd' but Alex calls me the She-Shepherd and sometimes 'McWife'."

"Why is that?"

Meredith chuckled a little, "Well I told you before that Addison and Derek used to be married and when Addison first came to Seattle we called her McWife because she was married to Derek who we call 'McDreamy' and for clarification or annoyance we called her the She-Shepherd."

"All behind my back, that is," Addison added, entering the room, "Hey McWife."

"Hey Mrs. Evil Spawn," Meredith replied, giggling. She filled in her mother, "We call Alex 'Evil Spawn' and since he and Addison and Derek and I got married, Addison calls _me_ 'McWife' and I call her 'Mrs. Evil Spawn'."

"This is all in love, of course," Addison laughed before asking, "How are you doing, Dr. Grey?"

"So you're Addison. I've heard a lot about you," Ellis replied, "I'm doing fine."

Addison smiled to her then turned to Meredith, "Meredith, I was wondering if you and Derek could take Andy and Amanda Friday night, overnight. Alex and I need some us time. I talked to Derek and he said you guys had the night and Saturday off but I wanted to make sure you didn't have anything planned."

"No, that's fine. Jackie is spending the night as well. She and Anna love their sleepovers, I'm sure Chris would like to have Andy over and I love having Amanda over," Meredith replied.

"You realize that's five children, Meredith," Ellis told her.

Meredith nodded, "A couple months ago we had all seven kids over and it was just me, Derek, and Izzie. Sure, it was crazy but we had a great time."

Addison gave Meredith a quick hug, "Thank you so much! I need to check on a patient but I'll talk to you later," she told her before heading off.

Meredith's pager went off and she checked it, "I gotta take this. I'll be back."

Meredith exited the room and Ellis could see through the window Meredith literally run into Derek in the hallway. He smiled at her, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her softly. When they broke apart she smiled at him then went on her way and he continued on his to speak with Ellis.

Meredith, meanwhile, went to do a neuro consult for Callie on her father who had slipped and fell on the ice. He bumped his head and broke his ankle.

---

Ellis, bored with what there was to look at in her room, decided to see what she could see in the hall. Meredith, have just come out of surgery, was being called by her daughter.

"Mommy!" Anna ran up to her.

Meredith was still wearing her lavender scrub cap. She turned around to see Anna, "Yes, Banana?"

"Can I get some money? I'm hungry," she asked.

"I don't have any money on me but daddy should," Meredith replied.

Anna shook her head, "he's in surgery."

"Well you know where my purse is in daddy's office; just take a few dollars, ok?" Meredith instructed.

"Ok," Anna skipped off to Derek's office and Meredith turned around to face Susan Grey.

"Is that your daughter?" Susan asked eyeing Anna's retreating form.

Meredith froze. Sure she had spoken to her father a few times and he knew that she was married and heard she had kids but she meant what she had said after Molly's daughter was born. They are not her family. Her family has never left her. Her family is her fellow former interns and their spouses and all the kids. Thatcher, Susan and everyone else are not her family.

Meredith shook her head a little to clear her head, "Um did you have any questions about Thatcher?" she asked, needing to get away.

Susan decided to let it go for now, "No, Dr. Torres told us everything after you cleared him. I just wanted to say hi."

Meredith nodded, "Oh, ok. Hi," Cristina came up a grabbed her arm telling her she needed her advice, "I have to go."

---

Cristina pulled her to the nurses' station in front of Ellis's room which piqued Ellis's attention but the two were talking in hushed voices.

---

"Sorry. I just heard from George that the pod family is here," Cristina told her.

"Its just the pod parents," Meredith told her, "But Susan saw Anna."

"Meredith!" Ellis called from her room.

Mer went into her mother's room, "Yes mom?"

"Who was the woman you were talking to before Cristina pulled you away?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"The pod fam – er um no one," Meredith replied, "I have to go, Anna said she was hungry."

After Meredith left Ellis called Cristina in and stared her down. "Cristina. Who was Meredith talking to that made her so nervous?"

Cristina tried to resist but it was hard to resist Ellis Grey staring you down. "It was Susan," she blurted out, "Thatcher's wife. We call them the pod family. Meredith isn't involved with her father at all but they know she's married and she has kids. It's weird so we run interference," Cristina surprised herself at how much she has just told her best friend's mother.

Ellis nodded, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Cristina replied, still confused about that admission.

---

The rest of the day was pretty boring. An intern took her, finally for a CT and an MRI, she ate the oh so wonderful hospital food, her son-in-law came to visit her once more with Christopher as did Anna who brought her a picture she drew and said that 'mommy was in a long surgery but after they were going to dinner and they would get ice cream'.

Two kids running in brought Ellis back from her thoughts of the day. Her grandchildren. Following them were Meredith and Derek both wearing street clothes, carrying the children's coats.

"We just wanted to say goodnight before we left," Meredith told her then looked to Anna and Chris, "Give Grandma a hug and kiss so we can get you some food before it gets any later."

Anna and Chris did as they were told and Ellis returned the favor.

"Goodnight, Grandma," they said in unison then giggled.

Meredith smiled at her children then leaned down and hugged her mother, "I'll see you later, mom."

"Have a good night," Ellis replied.

Then Derek gave Ellis a hug, "Try not to scare the on call interns too much," he chuckled.

"I make no promises," she told him, joking.

They all said their goodbyes and Ellis watched Meredith and Derek, along with their children, make their way down the hall and eventually out of the hospital and home.

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**The fic ends like that, so anticlimactically, because its life and most of the time life is anticlimactic. I hope you enjoyed my little fic.**

**Read, love, review **


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